The Renegade (The Moorehouse Legacy #3)(55)

Mad turned on her back. Shut him out.

“Mind if I ask you something?” he said.

“Anything, Captain.”

“It’s personal.”

“So.”

“Do you like men?”

She looked over her shoulder at him and laughed. “All my friends are men, I work with men, I live with men. Of course I like them.”

“I mean, sexually.”

“Oh.” Her eyes shifted away from his. “I—ah, I don’t know. I’ve never had one before.”

He smiled. “Don’t feel awkward about it, for God’s sake.”

“Well, I guess I figure I’m a little unusual.”

“You aren’t. And I sure as hell don’t care that you’re a lesbian.”

Her eyes shot back to his. She cleared her throat. Good Lord, was Mad Dog Maguire blushing?

“Captain, I’m not—I don’t like women like that.”

Alex frowned. “So if you’ve never been with a man and you’re not a lesbian, what—”

“I’m a virgin, okay? I’m a professional athlete who’s one of the best navigators in our sport who just happens to have never had sex. It’s no big deal, you know.” She grimaced and put her hands to her face. “God, are we really having this conversation? ’Cause I kind of hope this is a bad dream.”

Alex could only stare at her.

“Stop staring at me, Captain.”

“Sorry, it’s just…a little bit of a surprise, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not contagious or anything. You can’t catch inexperience from me,” she muttered.

“Jeez, Mad. I just figured…I mean, you’re so comfortable with your body, so confident in yourself—”

“And you think I can’t be all that and a virgin, too?”

“You’re absolutely right.”

“Look, just don’t tell the boys. I don’t have anything to hide, but there’s no need to broadcast this kind of private stuff.”

“It’s no one’s business but yours, Mad.”

She laughed a little. “Thanks, Captain. Guess we’re even, aren’t we? One secret for another.”

“Yeah. We’re even,” he murmured.

Alex eased onto his back, thinking of the other reason why he’d been so distracted over dinner. His one-time-only vow had been on the verge of disintegration the moment Cassandra had kissed him with such delicate inquiry. When he’d left her room, his body had been humming with sex. So much so, he’d had to wait a little before he could rejoin the party. It was either that or show off an obscenely prominent erection.

Never had his self-control been so fallible than with Cassandra.





Chapter Seventeen




Cass woke up the next morning and couldn’t get out of bed. She was queasy and feverish and teetering on the brink of a decision she wished she didn’t have to entertain. Even in the hypothetical.

She glanced at the clock to see what time it was, saw the congealed soup Alex had left on the bedside table and barely made it to the bathroom in time.

When she got back, a quick phone call to her office in New York was all it took. Jay Dobbs-Whyte, one of their younger associates, was going to come up and relieve her from the White Caps renovation.

She’d never had to leave in the middle of a project for personal reasons before. Ever. Once she started something, she finished it.

But after last night she needed some time to herself. She wasn’t concentrating at the site. Her health was suffering. And even if she forced herself to work, she was going to be next to useless if her stomach wouldn’t let her get out of the bathroom.

Jay was going to drive up from the city tomorrow. She would take him through the house and then she would leave. All she had to do was tell Frankie and Joy. Which was going to kill her.

But she couldn’t go on like this.

Cass got up, took a shower and was dismayed to learn that Frankie and Joy and their husbands had left already. She called their cell phones, got voice mail and left messages to the effect that she was turning the project over to a trusted colleague because she had health issues. She urged them to call her so she could explain the situation in greater detail.

Such detail not to include how she felt about Alex.

While she drove over to White Caps, she braced herself for seeing the shop. And she did a good job not dwelling on it as she went by, though she couldn’t help looking at the glossy black Viper nestled up tight to the barn. The thing looked like part of a car ad in a magazine, so sleek and flashy against all the pristine snow.

Parking the Range Rover in her usual space, she got out and heard the men talking.

“Hey, boss!” Ted called over to her. “Glad you’re here. We got a problem with the upstairs bath.”

Getting swept up in the work actually helped, and except for a revulsion to lunch, she kept herself together. When three o’clock rolled around, she told the men what to expect from Jay and was touched as they seemed sorry she was leaving. After the crew had pulled out, she went back to Gray’s and headed straight for her tub.

Her body was achy, and she ran the water as hot as she could make it. Sinking into the claw-footed thing of beauty made her moan with relief. Muscles that had been screaming tight all day long relaxed in a rush as she sank into the warmth. When there was a knock on her bedroom door, she was frustrated by the interruption.